Anonymous Reports Corroborate July 22nd Winged Humanoid Sighting at O'Hare International Airport

An illustration by artist Donie Odulio of the creature people have been describing in and around Chicago and the greater Lake Michigan area. (Donie Odulio / Instagram: @donie_odulio)

Two new reports released this month corroborate the July 22nd sighting of a winged humanoid at O’Hare International Airport first published by Manuel Navarette of UFO Clearinghouse earlier this month.

The initial report involved three witnesses who claimed to have seen a security detachment respond to a winged humanoid sighting at the airport's United Cargo facility.

Following that report, Lon Strickler of Phantoms & Monsters received the following email on August 9th.

I saw your article about the flying creature at O'Hare and wanted to reach out to you tell you what I saw on that night. I am reaching out to tell you this story, but I do not want any of my information being given out to the public because I will not risk losing my job over this. We have been told by our supervisors to never report anything that we saw to anybody outside of the company. So, I am taking a chance reporting this to you.
We were unloading a cargo plane that had just arrived from the Miami hub when a couple of people noticed this large person that was standing over by the fence about 40 feet from the plane. It was tall, about seven feet, and was completely black but with some solid red, glowing eyes.
We radioed it in, since we figured it was some idiot that might have scaled the fence and was wandering around the tarmac. We are told to report anything suspicious we see to our supervisors, who will then call in security and take that person away. The security people came within three minutes of our call and had shined some lights on it, when I saw that it was black and had a large pair of wings.
It then took off into the air and started making a loud sound before flying off. After it flew off, a bunch of other people showed up, including many of our supervisors. We all heard about the things that are seen around the airport, including the Mothman, but I never believed it until I saw it with my own eyes.
I talked about it with some of my friends and they saw the same thing, but we're not going to say anything because we were told at our meeting that we were not to report anything we saw to anybody but our supervisors. We were told "do not report it to the news or anybody who asked about what was seen at the airport." I am submitting this to you, but I want to remain anonymous because I have had this job since I left the Navy and don't want to lose my job or my benefits. I have been here over six years and have a family to support and cannot risk losing my job over something like this.
I know it sounds incredible, but I can promise you that I am not telling you any lies and that everything I told you happened. I know there were at least eight of us working that day on this plane, not counting any supervisors or tug operators working around the area.
I am doing what I can to prevent my name from being posted or somebody from my company finding out that I reported this. I am willing to talk only by email but that is it. No, I will not risk losing my job over this report and I will not risk my name being put out there and people thinking I have lost my absolute mind.

Strickler said he "corresponded with the witness, who is seriously fearful of losing his job because he came forward.”

“I will only refer to the eyewitness as 'EW,’” he added.

That fear has been a common narrative element of many winged humanoid sighting reports from people employed at O'Hare, and has hindered the ability of investigators to confirm the identities of witnesses and follow up on sighting details.

Strickler later told The Singular Fortean Society that he had once again corresponded with his source at the airport, a ground supervisor for one of the airlines, who said, "I'm sorry, Lon, for not wanting to talk over the phone. But they called a meeting yesterday before we started work and we were told that for 'security purposes' we were prohibited from talking to anyone regarding these sightings. We were told that they have determined that it was a a large seagull or heron and there was nothing unusual about it but, for the sake of security, we were prohibited from talking about it and that if we did, it could lead to immediate termination. So you can see why I'm not willing to talk to over the phone."

The day after Strickler received the previous report, Manuel Navarette of UFO Clearinghouse published a report that he had found in the Mutual UFO Network’s (MUFON) Case Management System (CMS).

That report, case file 117223, shown below, also purportedly came from a member of the ground crew working during the July 22nd sighting.

I am part of the ground crew for a major air cargo facility at O’Hare, and we were working on unloading a cargo plane that had arrived earlier that evening. I was operating one of the lifts that lifts cargo containers down from the plane to the ground. It was about ten at night when the call came over our radios that there was a report of an unknown person being seen on the tarmac near the fence.
I began looking around and saw a large man standing approximately fifty feet away from us, near the fence separating us from the road. He must have been close to seven feet tall, but I was not close enough to tell for sure. He was wearing what looked like a black coat and was just standing there.
I radioed my supervisor that I saw someone over by the fence and my supervisor ran over to where I was at; by this time the entire ground crew was aware of this man’s presence and was radioing in to their supervisors.
It must have been no more than 20 seconds after that that the first of many airport security vehicles showed up. One approached the man from the other side of the fence, while another two drove past us and stopped short of the man, who by this time was easier to see with the car lights on him.
It did not look like any man I have ever seen, he was solid black and had red eyes that must have been reflecting the lights like cat's eyes; it also had wings that were now spread open and must have been 15 feet from tip to tip.
This man let out a loud screech, it sounded a lot like a barn owl when it tried to warn you away. This man then started flapping its wings and took off, you could hear the sound of the wings as it took off into the air and was gone in seconds.
I was honestly scared for my life and started to pray for protection. I know in this world that demons walk among us and I was certain that whatever this thing was, it had to be demonic and an agent of the devil.
A lot of my coworkers were also very frightened after this thing took off and many of them ran inside the safety of the plane when it took off. I am certain that this was a demon and it must have been sent here to frighten us.

Strickler, who also published the MUFON report to Phantoms & Monsters, said, "From the information gathered, I suspect that the MUFON CMS report came from another member of the cargo ground crew working with 'EW.' I believe that these were employees of FedEx because of the sighting proximity and distance from the tarmac. As reported previously, the O'Hare management and carrier companies are taking these winged humanoid sightings very seriously and have warned all employees to not contact us."

"We are so grateful for those folks who have come forward and who continue to assist us in our determination to find answers," he added.

The Singular Fortean Society has reached out to MUFON for information on their investigation into the report, and any updates will be shared as they are received.

O’Hare International Airport has been the epicenter of recent winged humanoid sightings in the Lake Michigan Mothman investigation, with over a dozen sighting reports coming from the airport itself since August of 2019, and many more reported in the surrounding communities. Reports from the larger investigation have come from every state bordering Lake Michigan and date back to 1957.

This report constitutes the latest news in a string of ‘Mothman’ sightings from within a few hundred mile radius surrounding Lake Michigan, including every state bordering the great lake. These sightings ostensibly began in the spring of 2017, but more historical accounts are being reported as more people become aware of the phenomenon. They generally take place in the evening or at night, often in or near a park or natural area, and around water. Witnesses consistently describe a large gray, brown, or black, bat or bird-like creature—although in a small number of cases the creature was described as insect-like—sometimes with glowing or reflective red, yellow, green, or orange eyes, and humanoid features such as arms and legs are often reported. Some witnesses have reported feeling intense fear and an aura of evil emanating from the creature they encountered. Many of the sightings are also of something seen only briefly or are described only as a flying creature with few details, which leaves open the possibility that a misidentified large bird—such as a heron or crane—or some type of anomalous avian species could explain some, although certainly not all, of the encounters. A number of associated high strangeness incidents have also occurred alongside the creature sightings; these include reports of UFOs, other anomalous flying creatures and mysterious humanoids, parapsychological phenomena, and bizarre events experienced by those investigating the sightings.

To report a sighting reach out to us directly at The Singular Fortean Society through our contact page.

You can view a timeline of the sightings so far here.

To report your own encounter with the impossible, reach out to us directly at the Singular Fortean Society through our contact page.

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